Fragments of Your Soul (The Mirror Worlds #1) by E.S. Erbsland

Since the death of her father, Arvid Bergen has worked hard to support herself and her mother. When she accidentally steps through a portal that leads to another world, her only thought is returning home. While she is told the task is incredibly unlikely, if not impossible, Arvid is undeterred.

Upon meeting the god Loke, she strikes a bargain with him. Too late she learns that Loke is a liar and a traitor, and one she should not trust. Still, Arvid is determined to get home one way or another, even if it means pairing up with a murderer.

I will be honest, dear reader, I was first drawn to Fragments of Your Soul because of the artwork. When I joined Tumblr, I saw some of Eleathyra’s artwork for the book and was intrigued. And while I eventually was able to obtain a copy of the book, it has only been recently that I was able to sit and read it.

With that out of the way, it breaks my heart to say that I did not enjoy this book. I tried so very hard to like it, but there were several times I nearly threw my e-reader across the room in anger and frustration.

Firstly, the English translation from the original German isn’t that good. There are times when the dialogue feels awkward and the action is at times clunky. It is also a rather long book, the Kindle edition I read was just over 400 pages. Unfortunately, this means that at times the story becomes kind of boring. There were times I had to force myself to continue just to find out what happened next.

Next, the characters. Arvid is a young woman in her mid-twenties, and like most her age she works a job she doesn’t particularly enjoy and has a strained relationship with her mother. She has anger issues which resulted in a broken hand at the opening of the book, and continues throughout the story. She also has a bit of a superiority complex, her way of thinking sometimes tends to follow the “my way is the only way”, especially when she is met with servants or those who are considered lesser than. When she inevitably tries to persuade them to rise up or act different, she is frustrated when they refuse. She seems unable to understand that just because she thinks one way, not every one around her does.

Loke is another character that quite honestly I did not like. He is cruel and manipulative, and a times even verbally abusive; not just to Arvid but to other characters around him. His past is used as an attempt to explain and even excuse his behavior and the love that Arvid develops for him somehow makes him a better man as if by magic. This, unfortunately, is a trope that has been used too often recently and with little to no success.

While Erbsland does an excellent job of building a world based on Norse mythology, an interesting world itself does not a good story make. There must be equally interesting characters; characters we develop feelings for and root for. Alas, while we have the first in Fragments of Your Soul, the second is severely lacking. I’m afraid I simply cannot recommend this one to my readers. Instead, I encourage them to head over to Eleathrya’s art page, enjoy the pictures there and make up their own stories.